Tutorial 1

UDEC 2233 Industrial Chemistry

Week 6, May Semester 2020 (M. L. Ooi)

Q1. (a) Name the processes for the production of soda ash (NaCO 3). Show all the
chemical equations involved in these processes.

(b) Outline the flow for the production of nitric acid (HNO 3).

Step 1 : Catalytic Combustion of Ammonia to Nitrogen (II) oxide

Step 2 : Oxidation of Nitrogen (II) Oxide to Nitrogen (IV) Oxide and Dinitrogen (IV)
Oxide

Step 3 : Conversion of Nitrogen (IV) Oxide into Nitric Acid

 Thus, overall process:

(c) Phosphoric acid (H3PO4) can be prepared by either wet-acid process or furnace
process. Describe these two processes briefly and distinguish which process could
give pure phosphoric acid.

1. Wet-Acid Process
- Variation of the superphosphate process, but using an excess of H 2SO4:

- H3PO4 produced by this process is not pure because of residual gypsum and
impurities from the phosphate rock.

2. Furnace (or themal) Process

- Phosphate rock, sand (SiO2) and coke (elemental carbon) are fed continuously into
an electric-arc furnace at 2000 °C.

- The elemental white phosphorus (P4) is then burned in air to produce

tetraphosphorus decaoxide.
- A powerful drying agent, which subsequently reacted with water to generate very
pure phosphoric acid:

(d) Give THREE uses of phosphoric acid.

1. Fertilizer Manufacture
- Reaction of H3PO4 with NH3 to give ammonium phosphate ((NH4)3PO4) as
fertilizer which supplies both N and P as nutrients.
2. Detergents and Cleaning Agents
- Reaction of H3PO4 with Na2CO3 produces sodium hydrogen phosphate
(Na2HPO4), a weak base.
 -Na2HPO4 further reacting with a stronger base of NaOH to give aqueous
trisodium phosphate (Na3PO4) which work as excellent cleanser.
3. Food Additives
- Produces mild acidity and sour taste in soft drinks.
- Calcium dihydrogen phosphate monohydrate (Ca(H2PO4)2.H2O) is mixed with
NaHCO3 in baking powders to generate CO2 when water was added.
- Sodium hydrogen phosphate (Na2HPO4) is used as an emulsifier to distribute
butterfat uniformly through processed cheese.

Q2. (a) Define oleochemicals.

- Oleochemicals are generally chemical products derived from animal or

vegetable triglycerides, eg. fatty acids, fatty alcohols, methyl esters and glycerine.

(b) What is the purpose to carry out interesterification process during the
manufacturing of cooking oil?

Interesterification causes fatty acid redistribution within and among triglyceride

molecules, which can lead to substantial changes in the physical properties of
fats and oils or their mixtures without altering the chemical structure of the fatty
acids.

(c) Outline the production of methyl ester sulphonate (MES) from triglyceride.

(d) Both rendering and pressing are methods for the extraction of oil. Explain the
differences between them.

-Rendering process can be applied to animal fats such as tallow, lard, bone fat and
whale oil.
-The fatty tissues are chopped into small pieces and are boiled in steam
digesters. The fat is gradually liberated from the cells and floats to the surface of
the water, where it is collected by skimming.
- Pressing process can be applied to oil seeds which do not have fat cells like
those of animals for storing fats.
- Pressing process will break the cellular structures and the cell walls by
grinding, flaking, rolling, or pressing under high pressures to liberate the oil.
Q3. (a) What are the basic components of paint?

Pigments, binders, solvents and additives.

(b) What parameters are important for the hiding power?

Hiding power depends upon the wavelength and the total amount of light that a
pigment will absorb, on its refractive index (RI) and also on particle size and
shape of the pigment.

(c) State the character and roles of extender pigments.

- Extenders or extender pigments are white inorganic minerals.

- They are relatively deficient in both color and opacity and are used as partial
replacement for the more expensive prime pigments. These pigments are inert
pigments because of their optically inert in surface coatings.
- The principal function is to provide bulk and to adjust density and flow
properties.
- They can also affect physical properties such as hardness, permeability, and
gloss.
- They improve a coatings resistance to corrosion and degradation by UV light.

Q4. (a) What is the function of binder in paints?

A binder binds the pigment particles and holds them on to the surface.

(b) Define ‘pigment volume concentration’ (PVC).

The pigment volume concentration (PVC) is defined as the percentage of pigment

volume in the total volume of solids in the paint.

(c) What kind of effect will a paint show if the PVC % is

(i) low
Paint formulated with low PVC show an excess of binder present which
results in a well-bound film giving a high gloss level, and good chemical,
water, and abrasion resistance.
 (ii) high
Paint formulated with high PVC resulted from the insufficient binder will
cause the pigment particles could not bind together firmly and such paint
would be flat with a poor degree of wash and abrasion resistance.

Q5. (a) Write a short essay about rayon fiber.

-Rayon, the first commercial manmade fiber, is composed of cellulose in a quite

pure form. (semi-synthetic fibers).
-It is produced by the treatment of wood pulp with alkali and carbon disulfide to
form a viscous solution of cellulose xanthate. This viscous solution, called viscose,
is extruded through spinnerets into an aqueous acid bath that coagulates the
cellulose xanthate, decomposes it, and regenerates the cellulose.
-Rayon fibers are easily wetted by water and provide easy access to dye
molecules. Dyeing may take place by absorption or by reaction with the hydroxyl
groups.
-Rayon fibers may also be dyed with mordant and vat dyes.

(b) Sulfur dye can be used to dye cotton fiber. Briefly describe the process and the
advantages of using this dye.

- Sulfur dyes are applied to cotton from an alkaline reducing bath with sodium
sulfide as the reducing agent. Sulfur dye will dissolve in their reduced form and
exhibit affinity for cellulose and are subsequently converted back to their water-
insoluble form, giving good permanence under wet conditions.
- Advantages of using this dye are low cost and have good fastness to light,
washings and acids.

(c) Briefly explain direct dye is water soluble but it is not an acid dye?

-Direct dye consist sulfonic acid groups which made it soluble in the water.
-Direct dye is not an acid dye even though it consists of sulfonic acid group like
acid dye because the acid groups are not attached to the fiber.

Q6. (a) Define n-type doped and p-type doped semiconductor.

-When dopant like P, As and Sb which have five electrons in their outermost shell
is doped into pure single-crystal Si or Ge, there is an extra electron in the
outermost shell. This extra electron can easily jump into the conducting band and
become a free electron to conduct an electric current. In this case, the majority
carriers of electric currents are electrons. Due to electrons have negative charges,
thus the semiconductor is called n-type doped semiconductor.
 -When dopant like boron which has three electrons in its outermost shell is doped
into pure single-crystal Si or Ge, there will be an empty slot (or hole) occurred in
the outermost shell. In the electric field, other electrons in the valence band move
and jump into these holes, while creating new holes where these electrons
originated, allowing other electrons to jump in. The subsequent holes movement
carriers and electric current just like the movement of positive charges. A
semiconductor with holes as majority carriers is called p-type doped
semiconductor.

(b) Draw the band gap for conductor, semiconductor and insulator.

(c) Briefly describe the working mechanism of a photovoltaic cell.

-When the solar cell panel absorbed the photon energy from the sunlight, the
electrons in the valence band will gain the energy and transfer to the conduction
band. After the electrons had left the valence band, a positive-charged hole will
be occurred and the other negative-charge electrons will jump to fill in the hole.
When the electron-hole pair generation is happening continuously, the flow of
current will be occurred.

(d) Draw the typical molecular structure of liquid crystal and explain briefly.

-A typical molecular structure of liquid crystal will usually consists a side chain
R, two or more aromatic rings A and A’, connected by linkage groups X and at
the other end connected to a terminal group R’.
-Examples of side-chain and terminal groups are alkyl (CnH2n+1), alkoxy
(CnH2n+1O), acyloxyl alkylcarbonate, alkoxycarbonyl and the nitro and cyano
groups. The X of the linkage groups are simple bonds or groups such as stilbene
(-CH=CH-), ester, tolane (-CΞC-), azoxy (-N=N-), Schiff base (-CH=N-). The
names of liquid crystals are often fashioned after the linkage group (eg. Schiff-
base liquid crystal).